and we'll be going back to don lemon in newtown, connecticut. in just about several hours, president obama is scheduled to arrive there in newtown. eel meet with families of the 26 victims killed in friday's mass shooting at sandy hook elementary school. the president will also speak at an interfaith vigil. we'll be bringing you that service live at 7:00 p.m. eastern. we're following the latest developments on the shooting investigation. here's what we know right now.

connecticut governor, dan malloy, says the 20-year-old suspect shot his way into the school. we've also learned that all 20 of the children killed inside were shot multiple times. all of them were six and seven years old. investigators are still processing the crime scene. physically and forensically. police say they expect all questions surrounding the case will ultimately be answered because they have found certain evidence. medical examiner's office is starting to release the bodies of the 26 victims back to their families and funerals are expected to be held this week. the suspected gunman's father, peter lanza, is expressing condolences to the victim's families. released a statement saying quote, we're in a state of disbelief. trying to find whatever answers we can. we, too, are asking why. we've cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so we're saddened, but

struggling to make sense of what has transpired. we're going to go to don lemon in newtown. so much going on. so difficult, even for the father to have to put in context that allegedly his son is the one who caused so much grief and so much pain for all of these families, targeting an elementary school. >> yeah, it's unbelievable. it's really unbearable to think about, deb, a son getting guns from his own home and going on a killing rampage. our brian todd who went out and spoke with some people who know the shooting suspect. >> his motive for this unspeakable act is still not clear. law enforcement officials say. and in digging for details about shooter adam lanza and his family. accounts emerge that are still confusing, sometimes conflicting. a neighbor who knew him in recent years describes lanza as troubled. but listen to this account from a young man who knew him. >> he was just a kid. >> just a kid. >> just a kid. >> never anti-social?

>> no, adam, no. >> trouble-make centre. >> no, definitely not. >> noticeable? did he just kind of blend into the background? >> yeah. nothing that would warrant any of this. >> ryan craft says he babysat adam lanza about ten years ago when lanza was ten and craft was 15. he describes lanza as focused, quiet, introverted. he never saw evidence of violence, craft says. but says lanza did throw the occasional temper tantrum. >> just general stuff like you would have to put him to bed and he wouldn't like that. or we had to stop watching tv, and he wouldn't like that. normal stuff that kids do, but i guess at 10 years old, kids get out of that phase, but that wasn't the case for adam. >> mother told him to let ryan do whatever he wanted. but as for adam -- >> nancy always asked me to always be with him in the room. no matter what. don't go to the bathroom, don't ever leave him without

supervision. >> craft says adam had a contentious relationship with his mother, nancy. she had split from the boy's father, pete elanza, who is tax director and president of gees ifs but kraft says nancy lanza was an engaged mother, setting up play dates with her sons and taking part in neighborhood activities. neighbors say nancy lanza enjoyed gardening and had taken time off from her job in finance. >> decorate the house, the house was always pristine and, i mean she was just like any other housewife. >> but like her son, there are gaps in nancy lanza's story that still need to be filled in. she owned the weapons that adam lanza used in the killings, including a semi automatic rival and it's not clear why she purchased them. brian todd, cnn, washington. well, there is other news as well in washington, house speaker john boehner has agreed

to raise taxes on the rich to avert the fiscal cliff. a source tells cnn that boehner has offered to raise tax rates on people making more than $1 million in exchange for entitlement cuts, the white house is still holding to the $250,000 threshold. unless a deal is reached by january 1st, 98% of americans will be hit with a tax increase. egypt's muslim brotherhood declare as narrow victory in the first round of hotly contested constitutional referendum. this is the only first weekend of voting, the rest of the country will vote next weekend. election monitor report some claims of voter intimidation, as well as early poll closings. former south african president, nelson mandala is recovering in a hospital in pretoria. the 94-year-old nobel laureate had gall stones removed yesterday. he was hospitalized last weekend for a lung infection, he's been keeping a low profile for years

and is hailed as a hero of democracy in south africa. well, a message of hope in the wake of unspeakable heartbreak. the father of one of the children killed in connecticut offer as message of love and reconciliation. [ woman ] dear cat, your hair mixes with pollen and dust.

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fox television has pulled episodes of their popular comedies "family guy" and "american dad" that were supposed to air tonight out of respect for the school shooting victims, tom cruise was supposed to be in pittsburgh last night for the preview of his new movie "jack reacher." but the studio canceled event because of the shooting in connecticut. the film begins with a scene involving a sniper attack. and today, the nfl teams playing in eight different games, they're all planning to do some kind of remembrance. we now go back to don lemon who is in newtown, connecticut. don? >> as well they should do some type of remembrance. last night friends and mourners gathered in stratford, connecticut to remember sandy hook elementary teacher, victoria soto. ♪ ♪ >> you can see several people in

the crowd were wearing green, that was victoria's favorite color. the first grade teacher was killed on friday morning. she died trying to protect her students, victoria soto was 27 years old. emilie parker was six years old, she is another victim of the tragedy and her father spoke publicly last night. he is the only parent to come forward publicly it talk about their terrible loss, because he wants everyone to know how special his little girl was. >> i would really like. >> to offer our deepest condolences to all of the families directly affected by the shooting. it's a horrific tragedy and we want everybody to know that our hearts and prayers go out to them. this includes the family of the shooter. i can't imagine how hard this experience must be for you. and i want you to know that our family and our love and our

support goes out to you as well. my daughter emilie, would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving her love and support to all those victims. because that's the type of person that she is. not because of any parenting that my wife and i could have done, but because those are the gifts that were given to you by her heavenly father. i have two really good friends at home who have set up a facebook page. to help raise money for emilie. and when i've gotten on that and seen the number of people who have commented and expressed their condolences, it's been quite overwhelming. as the dean pain begins to settle into our hearts, we find comfort reflecting on the incredible person that emilie was. and how many lives that she was able to touch in her short time here on earth. emilie was bright, creative and very loving.

emilie was always willing to try new things. other than food. she loved to use her talents to touch the lives of everyone she came in contact with she was an exceptional art ifrt and she always carried around her markers and pencils so she never missed and opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for those around her. i can't count the number of times emilie noticed someone feeling sad or frustrated and would rush to find a piece of paper to draw them a picture or to write them an encouraging note. emilie's card-making was expressed beautifully this last october when she placed a very special card that she had made into the casket with her grandpa, who also just recently died of a tragic accident. emilie was a mentor to her two little sisters in delighting in teaching them how to read, dance and find the simple joys in life. emilie's laughter was infectious and all those who had the

pleasure to meet her would agree that this world is a better place because she has been in it she was their best friend. they were born within three years of each other, so by law, they're very close. she was teaching my middle daughter to read. she would help my youngest daughter learn how to make things, show her how to do crafts. they looked up to her. and they looked to her when, when they needed comfort. usually that's, that is saved for a mom or a dad. but it was sweet to see the times when one of them or fall or get their feelings hurt, how they would run to emilie to get support and hugs and kisses. she was the type of person that could just light up a room. she, she always had something kind to say about anybody. and her, her love and the

strength that she gave us and the example that she showed us is remarkable. she is an incredible person. and i'm so blessed to be her dad. i was leaving to work and she woke up before i left. and i've actually been teaching her portuguese. so our last conversation was in portuguese. she told me good morning. and asked how i was doing and i said that i was doing well and she said that she loved me and i gave her a kiss and i was out the door. free agency is given to all of us to act and choose to do whatever we want and god can't take that away from us. and i know that that's something that he was given and that's what he chose to do with it. and i know that god can't take that away. i'm not mad. because i have my agency to make sure that i use this event to do

what i can, to do whatever i can. to want to make sure that my family and my wife and my daughters are taken care of. and that if there's anything thatky do to help anybody at any time, anywhere, that i would be willing to do that. as we move on from what happened here, what happened to so many people, let it not turn into something that defines us. but something that inspires us to be better, to be more compassionate and more humble people. >> emilie and her family moved her to newtown from utah earlier this year and she will be laid to rest in utah. you know, this shooting at sandy hook elementary is raising lots of questions, including how far the second amendment extends the rights to bear arms. we'll take a closer look after the break. people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. but they haven't experienced

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the shooting here in newtown is reviving debate over gun

control and the second amendment to the constitution. most people think they know what it says. that it just says, you have the right to bear arms. here is the actual text. it says a well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. deb, that's the actual text there. >> that's it. and that's why when you hear people talk about gun control. they say we respect the second amendment but when it comes to the more military weapons, that's where it gets a little bit trickier. the tragedy will once again fuel the debate over a right to bear arms, how much regulation should there be, regarding the accessibility of guns. we want to bring in our cnn contributor, former fbi assistant director, tom fuentes. tom, no one is talking about removing the right to bear arms. but there are 310 million nonmilitary weapons in the united states, that is more than one for every single american. first of all, is it even

possible to try to limit the weapons that are out there. how do you even do that? >> hi, debra. it would be possible. it would be, have to be done over a long period of time. but when you look at the right to bear arms, you know, we're really looking at an issue that's on the continuum. where you might have a single-shot pistol on the one end of the continuum and nuclear weapons on the other. the right of a citizen to possess arms, does that mean they can go out and obtain nuclear weapons and automatic weapons and tanks and firepower, aircraft carriers? no. the government says that at some point, we're going to cut you off and you can't have a mour powerful weapon than what the government says. but the argument now is at what point on the continuum to do we make the limitation, do we say you can have pistols, shotguns and single-shot rifles, you cannot have an assault rifle, a fully automatic weapon.

we're really debating at what point do we say enough is enough. you don't need to have firepower beyond the certain point on the continuum. another point constitutionally for me is when second amend m was passed as part of the bill of rights, you didn't have a lot of difference between the firepower of a militia and local farmers with their muskets and let's say the u.s. government at the time or the british government before them. who had basically muskets and cannons and not much more than that. again, the ability of the population to have some kind of a parody to fend off tyranny, they wouldn't be able to do it. even as we won the revolutionary war with muskets and cannons. but today, are the citizens going to prevent the tyranny of the united states government with even this bushmaster or these pistols when the government has got nukes? i don't think so. times have changed in 250 years and it really is time to mike an assessment of what is reasonable under the second amendment for

people to be able to protect themselves. but not have such a proliferation of weapons that they repeatedly fall in the hands of mentally disturbed people who commit these acts, with far too much frequency any more. >> as were you saying that, tom, you took the words right out of my mouth. that was in the constitution, when they put that in the constitution. muskets, pea shooters, no one thought about all of these guns. they probably had no idea what these extended magazines, that kill people at random. just a matter of moments. and so reallyi the interpretation of that. it seems, just looking at it, common sensic alabae iicallsens. people should have a way to rise up against the government. not just go out and hunt people down because you can get a weapon. >> and it's not going to happen any more. if you have a local militia that says, and we've had some, as the fbi has had many cases of this.

if you have a local militia that's decided to take on the united states government. wouldn't even be able to take on a small contingent of navy s.e.a.l.s, much less the rest of the government with nuclear weapons and stealth fighters and bombers and cruise missiles, the array of weaponry that this government possesses and most developed governments possess, there's to way any group of citizens can put together enough of their bushmasters and glocks and sig sauers to take on a government any more. >> tom fuentes, thank you very much. >> thank you, don. in times of tragedy, remembering moments of goodness. as a nation grieves, we're going to look at stories of inspiration. hey sis, it's so great to see you. you, too! oh, cloudy glasses. you didn't have to come over!

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♪ la da da, la da da [ male announcer ] thinking of others this holiday season, travelers. we wanted to end this hour with a reminder an important reminder, after all we've seen this weekend. that people can be good in acts of kindness are everywhere.

we want to you remember this -- just last month, this new york city police officer made news by offering a homeless man in times square a pair of boots on a cold night. or this -- a tennessee boy who helped his brother in a wheelchair compete in a triathlon, helping him achieve his dream to cross a finish line. or the football team at one arizona high school who protected this fresh han with special needs from bullies. and just this weekend, there's a texas cop who wrapped $100 bill in a traffic ticket he gave to one struggling dad. just one of the encouraging moments of humanity we have seen this year. it's important to keep in mind there's still good in the world even when tragic things happen. what could prompt one to carry out such horrific acts, many questions will never be answered. we'll talk with an expert in

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